Lisa needs to start carbo-loading for the marathon so we wanted to try a new pasta dish, and this one was quick, easy, and didn’t require us to go out and buy anything special — everything was already in the fridge or on the shelf. I’m normally not a fan of “creamy” sauces, but this one had a chicken broth and wine base thickened with flour, which made for a cream-like, savory sauce without any dairy. Plus it had capers, and I loves me some capers.

Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and green onions and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the flour and blend well. Stir in the broth and wine, stirring constantly until thickened. Reduce the heat and stir in the tuna and capers. Add the lemon juice, Tabasco, and pepper. Serve hot over pasta.

Thad and Abbie came over for dinner tonight, which gave us yet another excuse to fire up the grill. The marinade for the lemongrass-skewered shrimp was based on what we had in the kitchen and what “sounded good” — you really can’t go wrong with lemon and garlic! Lisa prepared a delicious Orzo salad made with spinach, basil, lemon, and cherry tomatoes, and we grilled some pineapple after quartering it and brushing it with melted butter, honey, and brown sugar. Turned out to be quite the tasty combination!

Peel shrimp, leave tails on. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add shrimp, and marinate for 2 hours. Soak lemongrass in water for 15 minutes, and then use to skewer shrimp. Cook shrimp on medium-heat grill for 4-5 minutes or until opaque in center.

Jenn sent us this recipe for Spicy Thai Beef Salad, the way it’s made at Surin of Thailand in Atlanta. We liked this version better than the one we made a few weeks ago — it was a lot easier, and the meat cooked a lot faster on the grill since it was already sliced. As listed below, I’d call the salad “medium” on the spicy scale, I added extra chili paste to mine to enable sweat-head.

Preheat a grill to medium heat. In a nonreactive bowl, combine the lime juice, fish sauce and chili paste; set aside. Slice the beef into thin strips, then grill to medium. Add to the bowl with the chili paste mixture and toss to coat. Arrange the cucumber, onion, tomato, cilantro and green onion in a bowl. Add the steak and lightly toss. Put a handful of romaine lettuce on each plate and top with the steak and cucumber mixture.

There’s been a mini-bottle of bubbly sitting unopened in our fridge for a while, so when we saw that Great Bowls of Fire had a recipe for a spicy risotto that used champagne and was chock full of mushrooms, we had to try it. Neither one of us have risotto very often, so I’m not sure how this one rates when compared to others, but we both really enjoyed the creamy texture and the bite from the spice — the champagne was subtle, but you definitely could taste it. (In case you’re wondering, the risotto is that color due to the turmeric that’s in the recipe.)